So I’ve had a hankering for a pair of Moccasins

Truth be told, I’ve been lusting after a pair of mocs I saw at Hayward’s Trading Post in Milford New Hampshire.  The pair I have the hots for are something like eighty bucks!  That’s a bit more than I really want to spend. 

So I got to thinking.  (And we know how dangerous that can be!)

I’m into leather crafts.  Moccasins are made of leather.  Tandy sells a pre-cut and punched moccasin kit.  Since I don’t know how to make moccasins I can get one of their kits and make a pair myself and learn how in the process!

Now it has always been my assumption that shoes come from the store.  You buy them already made.  And you have to settle for the styles and sizes they have.  Whether you really like how they’re made or not.  And the best you can do is find a size that’s the closest compromise to what your feet really need to work well enough.  The idea of actually making my own footwear had never occurred to me.  Until just last week when I decided to get the Tandy kit and give it a shot.

Not too shabby, if I do say so m’self…

These are a totally stock made by the instructions from the kit pair of moccasins.  I was surprised by how fast they went together.  Of course the leather was all pre cut and punched.  They’re comfortable enough to wear around the house as slippers.  A pair of socks helps enormously with that.  Personally I think the size of the kit I bought is a bit long for my feet.  I usually have trouble with that.  My feet are 9 ½ EE.  That’s extra extra wide.  The vast majority of shoes sold in America (at least that I’ve encountered) are sold in medium width only.  If you need a wide you have to ‘size up’ and then they are too long.  Being a stock kit these are sized up for width and too long as a result.

I will eventually solve that by making a custom pair that actually fit my feet.  When I do I think I’m going to redesign the heal construction while I’m at it.  Now I realize moccasins have been made the same way for literally thousands of years and the design works.  But I have sensitive feet.  My heals are particularly sensitive.  Traditional construction puts a lot of overlapping material and lacing right at my heals.  My design (when I finally get around to actually designing them) will fix that.

So how ‘bout that!  Me – making my own shoes!  Who’d have thunk?